The Scottish Environment Protection Agency is to recommence monitoring of radioactive particles at Dalgety Bay next week amidst signs the issue is becoming a political football.
The Agency, which recently ordered access to be restricted on a section of the beach on the Firth of Forth following discovery of a high activity particle (BB, October 2011), says further monitoring of the demarcated area will take place due to the unexpectedly high number of particle finds and their associated activity.
Meanwhile the Agency is in the process of meeting interested bodies. Meetings have been held with the Ministry of Defence and the Scottish Government and other bodies will be seen shortly.
The Dalgety Bay Forum is due to meet on 22 November.
Politicians who have ignored the issue for years are now taking a close interest.
At the SNP conference in Inverness, Fife Council member Douglas Chapman was quoted as launching an attack on the area's MP, Gordon Brown, whom he accused of failing to protect the community throughout his political career.
In fact Mr Brown wrote to the then defence secretary Liam Fox last winter seeking acceleration of particle removal work (BB, February 2011).
Meanwhile, the issue of designation of the beach as the first UK radioactively contaminated site remains unresolved.
SEPA's statement noted that it has responsibility for investigation, identification, characterisation and regulation of remediation of such land.
"Without designation, we rely on voluntary remediation by relevant bodies," it said.
When SEPA first announced the particle find on 13 October it stressed the urgent need to develop an appropriate long-term remediation plan and said: "this may require SEPA to designate an area of the foreshore at Dalgety Bay as radioactively contaminated land".
But, while a subsequent announcement on 17 October still stressed the need for the remediation plan and said it would meet the MoD and Scottish Government to expedite this, it qualified its earlier statement by saying "without a remediation plan, SEPA may need to designate" part of the foreshore.
